Memphis college seeks more diversity

MEMPHIS — A small, historically black college in Memphis is trying to diversify its student population.

MEMPHIS — A small, historically black college in Memphis is trying to diversify its student population.

The Commercial Appeal reports LeMoyne-Owen College is trying to recruit more nonblack students to its campus.

Part of that effort includes featuring 18-year-old David Aguilar, who is originally from Mexico, on an upcoming recruiting booklet.

The college, which sprang from a makeshift school for freed slaves 150 years ago, still has a student body that is mostly African-American. About 2 percent of the 1,100 students are from other races and ethnic groups.

Officials say the college has enrolled a few white students or those born in foreign countries for several years, but they are looking to expand those numbers.

Aguilar couldn’t qualify for in-state tuition at Tennessee universities and was afraid he wouldn’t be able to afford college. However, he received a full scholarship at LeMoyne-Owen after meeting with staff who were impressed with his grades and test scores.

“It was like the happiest moment of my life,” said Aguilar. “I was getting help from people who didn’t know me.”

One of his friends, 18-year-old Tyrone Perry, will also be on the recruitment brochure. Admissions director Samuel L. King says the message is that the school is open to everyone.

“We embrace that whole concept,” King said. “We want to do a better job of it. I don’t want you to think that we think we’ve got it licked.”

Another student who received a scholarship to the school is 33-yeard-old Daniel Padgett, who is white.

Padgett attends LeMoyne-Owen part-time through a program for older students and says he will graduate next year with a degree in business management. Padgett says he grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Memphis and learned how to bring different groups together.

“It gives you a very home feeling,” he said. “I don’t think you ever get the opportunity to feel like you’re lost in the numbers of everybody else.”

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